Pride Celebrate Senior Day with Two Victories

WESTON, Mass. – Regis College closed out the 2019 season on a positive note, defeating both Anna Maria College, 3-0 (25-8, 25-13, 25-7), and Salve Regina University, 3-1 (25-17, 25-22, 18-25, 25-21), Saturday in women's collegiate volleyball action at Higgins Court.

The Pride seniors led the way on Senior Day. Katryna Veasey (Quincy, Mass.) notched her 15^th and 16^th double-doubles of the season, earning 11 kills and 11 digs against Anna Maria followed by an 11-kill, 13-dig effort against Salve Regina. Lauren Butt (Topsfield, Mass.) helped defeat the Seahawks with 10 kills and eight total blocks, and Samantha Turner (Concord, N.H.) collected five kills and four block assists in Regis' win over Anna Maria.

Regis 3, Anna Maria 0

After losing the first point of the match, Regis scored eight straight points, led by Turner with three kills and two block assists. The Pride would pull away in the first set by earning 11 straight points on Emily Fagundo's (Dover, N.H.) serve, led by four kills from Veasey and three kills by Rita Dow (Nashua, N.H.). Regis would close out the first set on a kill by Butt. 

Anna Maria (2-22, 0-12 GNAC) stayed close early in the second set, pulling to within two at 7-5 on kills by Hannah Mitchell and Serena Dennis. The Pride extended their lead thanks to a 7-2 scoring run, and then they clinched the second set with a 10-2 scoring stretch, capped by kills from Kate Flemming (Woburn, Mass.) and Turner.

The Pride scored the first 14 points of the third set, featuring seven service aces by Toni Ondris (Mineola, N.Y.). After Bella Kozciak earned a service ace of her own later in the set, Regis finished off the match with five straight points, including three service aces by Dow.

The Pride tied their season high with 20 service aces while committing only four service errors, plus the team hit .253 in the match. On the other side, Anna Maria were led defensively by Dennis with nine digs, but the AMCATS managed just nine kills in the entire contest.

Regis 3, Salve Regina 1

Besides the play of Veasey and Butt, Valerie Whalen (Stoughton, Mass.) also collected 11 kills as she hit .321 in the match, while Julia Pelland (Brockton, Mass.) finished with nine kills and six block assists. Fagundo notched a double-double with 22 assists and 11 digs, and Tori Ondris (Mineola, N.Y.) earned 20 assists. The Pride backline defense was led by Mica van der Meulen (Colorado Springs, Colo.) with 21 digs, with Meg Adams (Ware, Mass.) adding 10 digs to the winning effort.

After the teams split the first eight points of the opening set, Regis scored five straight points, led by Butt with a block and two kills. The Seahawks closed to within four on a couple of occasions, but the Pride finally pulled away late in the set, going on a 6-2 scoring run, with a kill by Whalen clinching the first set.

A block by Butt and Pelland helped the Pride open the second set with a 5-2 lead, but Salve Regina quickly responded with three straight points to tie the set at 5-5. The visitors would put together a 5-1 scoring run, including two kills by Madison Lee, to take the lead, but Regis responded with its own 7-2 scoring stretch.

Salve Regina (13-14) fought back with seven unanswered points, led by Annie Donahue with a kill and a service ace, but Regis quickly rallied back with six straight points of its own. The Pride would score four of the final six points of the set, punctuated by another Whalen kill.

Regis scored four of the first five points of the third set, but the Seahawks bounced back with five unanswered points, including two kills by Mia Lang. The Pride went on an 8-2 scoring run to retake the lead at 12-8, but Salve Regina gained momentum right back with a 9-1 scoring run, including two kills and a block assist by Nicole Karabaich.

The two teams traded the next six points, and then Regis closed to within three on a block by Pelland and Butt as well as a Veasey kill. However, Salve Regina finished off the third set with four straight points on two kills by Andee Bender, a Regis attack error, and a block by Lee and Olivia Noonan.

Four kills by Bender allowed the Seahawks to run out to an 8-3 lead in the fourth set, but the Pride settled down and put together a 10-2 scoring run, led by two kills apiece from Whalen and Pelland. Down by five later in the set, Salve Regina scored four straight points, starting with back-to-back kills by Donahue, to close to within one at 21-20. However, Regis used kills by Whalen and Pelland to finish off the set and the match.

Lee earned a double-double for the Seahawks with 14 kills and 13 digs, while Donahue also collected 14 kills as she hit .650 in the match. Meredith Arancio also notched a double-double with 25 assists and 10 digs, Noonan accumulated 21 assists and three total blocks, and libero Kathryn Linekin finished with a match-high 22 digs.

Before facing the Pride, Salve Regina cruised to a 3-0 victory (25-15, 25-9, 25-9) over Anna Maria as the Seahawks hit .467 (45-10-75) in the contest. Karabaich led the Seahawks with 13 kills, while Bender finished with 10 kills on a .500 hitting percentage to go along with two service aces and eight digs.

Salve Regina will move on to the Commonwealth Coast Conference Tournament next week, while both Anna Maria and Regis did not qualify for next week's Great Northeast Athletic Conference Tournament.

Regis (12-18, 5-7 GNAC) will finish either in a three-way tie for sixth place or a two-way tie for seventh place in the final GNAC regular season standings. However, no matter what happens, the Pride will not earn a spot in the GNAC Tournament.